evangelionfandomcom_it-20200213-history
Interviste e fonti/2
aan Incipit * Ep. 24 * «The original title for the series, Shinseiki Evangelion, is composed of two parts: the Japanese compound Shinseiki, which means "new era" or "new generation," and the Greek word Evangelion, which literally means "good news" (from eu = "good" + angelein = "to announce", cf. angelos = "messanger") and has subsequently come to also mean "gospel". The English tite Neon Genesis Evangelion, originally chosen by Gainax, consist of the Greek word neon, the neuter form of the word neos (= "new" or "young"), genesis (= "origin", "source" or "birth, race") and evangelion» (Cavallaro, p. 54) (Anime Intersections) * [Berserkelion: Credo di aver perso la fonte originale, ma dovrebbe essere ok] (Fontana, Donati, p. 128) * «Where possible we have used the Western title most recognizable - few fans in the U.S. or Japan speak of Neon Genesis Evangelion; instead they refer to it as Evangelion, trough both variants will be found in our index» (Clements, p. xii) * «A common mecha reference in the United States for younger generations of fans has been the anime and manga ad aptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, often referred to as simply Eva, adopted from the names the characters give their piloted vehicles» (Brenner, p. 162) * «Evangelion, commonly known as Eva, is shorthand for the TV anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shin-seiki Evangerion, or "New Century Evangelion"), first broadcast in 1995-96, and its cinematization (1997)» (Murakami, p. 185, snippet) * «''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', an anime masterpiece, began as a TV series written and directed by Hideaki Anno and produced by Gainax in 1995-96» (Murakami, p. 88, script) * 企画・原作 - ガイナックス / 脚本・監督 - 庵野秀明 キャラクター･デザイン 貞本義行 / メカニック･デザイン - 山下いくと・庵野秀明 / 副監督 - 鶴巻和哉・摩砂雪 / 音楽 - 鷺巣詩朗, «Pianificazione originale - Gainax / Sceneggiato e diretto da: Hideaki Anno / Characte design: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto / Mechanical design: Ikuto Yamashita, Hideaki Anno / Aiuto regista: Kazuya Tsurumaki, Masayuki / Musiche: Shiro Sagisu» (Scheda anime su Gainax.co.jp) * «Despite this confused denouement, Eva was the most critically successful TV anime of the 1900s..» (Clements, p. 185) * «One of the most celebrated - and controversial - anime TV series of all time, Evangelion..» (Camp, Davis, p. 244) * «Anno's next work would become one of the most highly acclaimed and controversial anime series of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion» (Anime, p.?) * «In its basic plot outlines, Evangelion is a classic mecha. Set in the near future after a catastrophe called the 'Second Impact', the narrative follows the adventures of a young boy named Shinji who is summoned to Nerv headquarters, a secret government organ-isation in the city of Tokyo III, by his mysterious and coldly distant scientist father» (Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Film Reader, p. 210) * «The story of Evangelion focuses on a teenage boy named Shinji who is summoned by his estranged father, the head of a mysterious government organization called NERV, in order to pilot a giant robot in order to save mankind from a series of invading aliens that are called ‘angels’ (the Japanese word used is shito, which literally means ‘apostle’)» (Producing Transnational Cult Media: Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ghost in the Shell in Circulation, pp. 4-5) * «..[stesso testo di Liquid Mental] In Episode 1 Shinji learns why he has been summoned - to pilot an enormous robotic weapon known as an "Evangelion" (EVA for short) , which has been constructed to fight the "Shito " (translated as "angel" but actually meaning "apostle")» (Napier 2005, pp. 96-97) * [Berserkelion: Segue una presentazione della trama dei primi episodi] (Story su Gainax.co.jp) * «A case in point us Hideaki Anno's renowned Shinseiki ebangerion (Neon Genesis Evangelion, 1995), a postapocalyptic tale set in 2015 about special children who captain gigantic bio-machines called Evas to fight against Angels, mysterious beings from outer space ? bent on destroying not only Tokyo-3 but all humankind. Over the twenty-six episode of the original TV Series, Shinji Ikari, the main character, and the other children pilots face off every week against a new numbered angel, which they eventually defeat through teamwork !» (Macwilliams, p. 10) * «In the year 2015, in Tokyo-3, a city rebuild ? after the destruction caused fifteen years earlier by the Second Impact, a top-secret agency called NERV await the onset of attacks by "Angels," enigmatic otherworldly entities ?! that are both clever and destructive. To meet these attacks, NERV-head Dr. Gendo Ikari has build ! "Evas," giant combat robots with biological components meant to be piloted by "chosen" children who were born after the Second Impact and are now fourteen years old. The "Third Child" is Ikari's own son, Shinji, who is assigned to Eva Unit 01» (Camp, Davis, pp. 244-246) * «The films Death & Rebirth and The End of Evangelion were both released in 1997. The first comprises two relatively discrete sections: the Death segment (written by Anno and directed by Masayuki), an imaginatively reconstructed composite of various key moments from Episodes 1-24 of the TV series (and also peppered with tangential allusions to Episode 25 and Episode 26) containing approximately twenty minutes of totally new footage; the Rebirth segment, consisting of wholly new footage to be reproposed as the first thirty minutes of the film The End of Evangelion. The End of Evangelion is an entirely novel development of the story's ending, offering an alternate conclusion to the one provided by the last two installments of the TV show» (Cavallaro, pp. 54-55) * «Public outrage over the ambiguous, mocking conclusion of the series - combined with the factor of EVANGELION’s vast popularity - led to the announcement from Gainax that a double-feature EVA “movie” would be released in the spring of 1997. The first film will be a feature-length edit of the first 24 episodes, the second, an all-new version of the final two which will provide, according to Anno, “the same ending, but from a different perspective”» (Ledoux, p. 129) * «Produced simultaneously with the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime, and continued sporadically long after the anime concluded, the Evangelion manga is character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's alternate version of the story. ... The story diverges from the anime as it goes on, in ways that will be fascinating to Evangelion fans» (Thompson, pp. 240-241) * [Berserkelion: Sito ufficiale di Petit Eva] (Petit Eva, evangelion.co.jp) Personaggi * «The other strand of the narrative Evangelion is far more complex and provocative, as it becomes increasingly concerned with the problematic mental and emotional states of the main characters, all of whom carry deep psychic wounds and whose psychic turmoil is presented against an increasingly frenzied apocalyptic background ... ...what makes Evangelion truly groundbreaking are the psychic struggles in which the characters engage. These struggles are both wide-ranging and emotionally draining. They are also presented with surprising psychoanalythical sophistication as the characters try to come to grips with their own inner turmoil, their problematic relations with each other, and finally, their relation to more remote forms of Otherness» (Napier 2002, p. 425) * «As is often pointed out by anime critics, all main characters in Evangelion have suffered a traumatic experience or, often as a result, experience self-doubts» (Ishikawa, p. 76) * «The characters' deep psychological scars prove fundamental to the story's investigation of human desire and loneliness, and each character's traumas play significant roles in how certain parts of the story unfold. The teenage Evangelion pilots .. each face emotionally crippling psychological struggles: Rei (the First Child) faces feelings of alienation and existential angst because she is merely a clone; Asuka's (the Second Child's) overly competitive spirit and lack of self-esteem stem from her mother's madness and suicide; and Shinji Ikari (the Third Child) copes with the death of his mother and subsequent abandonment by his father. The adults who run Evangelion are not immune to such traumas either: Misato (the commander of Nerv combat operations) deals with the memories of her distant father who ultimately died saving her life, and Gendo (Shinji's father and the head of Nerv) continues to build walls around himself that block out his own son in order to handle his deceased wife's absence» (Miller, p. 85) * «Because of the traumatic experience of having lost his mother and being left by his father alone, Shinji perceives himself as an unwanted child» (Ishikawa, p. 74) * «And in that world, a 14-year-old boy Shinji shrinks from human contact. And he tries to live in a closed world where his behavior dooms him, and he has abandoned the attempt to understand himself. A cowardly young man who feels that his father has abandoned him, and so he has convinced himself that he is a completely unnecessary person, so much so that he cannot even commit suicide. ... Both and Misato are extremely afraid of being hurt. Both are unsuitable -lacking the positive attitude - for what people call heroes of an adventure. But in any case, they are the heroes of this story. ... I tried to include everything of myself in Neon Genesis Evangelion-myself, a broken man who could do nothing for four years. A man who ran away for four years, one who was simply not dead» (What were we trying to make here?) * «Thus, the opening episode is constructed around all the conventions of the classic "saving the world" narrative, only to undermine them by showing Ikari Shinji, its fourteen-year-old ostensible hero, in a far from heroic light. ... In a more conventional anime sf narrative, Shinji would climb into the Eva with gusto and proceed to save the world. In fact, he does pilot the Eva and succeeds in destroying the Angel - who turns out to be the third of seventeen - but only with the greatest reluctance and after a display of temper, fear, and vulnerability that seems less than conventionally heroic» (Napier 2002, pp. 424-425) * [Berserkelion: La fonte originale non è disponibile; l'informazione proviene dalla en.wiki] ( Death and Rebirth; End of Evangelion, DVD Audio Commentary) * «In the September 1996 issue of the Quick Japan information magazine, Hideaki Anno, the director of Evangelion, described Eva as a 'personal film,' each character reflecting part of his own personality» (Kosukegawa, Yoichi (May 8, 1997). "Cartoon 'Eva' captures sense of void among Japanese youth", Japan Economic Newswire). [Berserkelion: Anche in questo caso, la fonte e trascrizione provengono dalla en.wiki] Produzione La genesi dell'opera * «When Aoki Uru was postponed, we were dangerously short of funds. We had enough cash to handle the day-to-day costs for the time being, but it was clear that if something didn’t change, we’d end up running the company into the ground» (Takeda, p. 159) * «The major problem with Uru was that it was designed as a theatrical release, and we were unable to foot all of the production costs ourselves. If we funded the project in its entirety and it was a hit, then we would reap all of the profits - but the simple truth was, we didn’t have that kind of money. We were faced with the dilemma of having to begin work on the project, but not having enough funds to see it all the way through. ... And so, though we lacked the funds necessary to complete it, production began on Aoki Uru» (Takeda, p. 156) * «After Nadia, Anno fell into deep depression, refused to work for four years. He returned to animation with Evangelion, gradually fashioning that series into a critique of anime otaku. While a full account of Evangelion is not required here, it is important to note that Evangelion repeats and reworks most of the structures and questions that arise in Nadia» (Lamarre, p. 180) * «Anno knew a guy from King Records named Otsuki, and as the story goes, the two were out drinking one day when Otsuki suggested to Anno that they work on a TV anime project together. Anno agreed on the spot, came back to the office and promptly announced it to everyone. Nobody even batted an eyelash. We all just accepted it without further thought. I remember thinking OK, so Anno’s made the decision then, and that was that. No surprise, nothing out of the ordinary» (Takeda, p. 154) * «One of the key themes in Aoki Uru had been “not running away”. In the story, the main character is faced with the daunting task of saving the heroine, who’s been abducted. He ran away from something in the past, so he decides that this time he will stand his ground. That same theme was carried over into Evangelion, but I think it was something more than just transposing one show’s theme onto another. I really think Anno inherited something from Aoki Uru - the determination not to run away from problems - and what we saw in Evangelion was maybe just a reflection of those feelings» (Takeda, p. 165) * «Anno is very conscious about such closeness. In other interviews he says that in the beginning of making Evangelion he wanted to enlarge the number of otaku. It was some kind of master plan for "otakuzation" in order to break the closedness. But towards the end the production process he had to break that pattern and to diffuse it» (Towards a cartography of Japanese anime: Hideaki Anno's "Evangelion", nettime.org, a'') * ['Berserkelion': Traduzione da Evangelion Chronicle. Spero, in un prossimo futuro, di tradurre per intero. In ogni caso non è la fonte "primaria", per così dire] (Sony Magazine, v. 1 p. 26) * «To start off our information gathering, Anno Hideaki said, "How could I think of doing an old-fashioned robot anime?" This was a stimulating remark. With an over 20 year history of robot anime, certainly fresh genres would be better. Thinking this, we wondered why he would participate in and direct a robot anime project. "One reason is that we thought it would be good to put on TV a robot anime that is not sponsored by a toy company."... He also said, "Robot anime has been stuck in a pattern, and we wanted to break out of it."» (Newtype, aprile 1995) * «Taking him Anno by surprise, it's been hailed by critics in Japan (and later in America and Europe) as the landmark Japanese animated TV series of the 90's. The modestly budgeted production has also become a commercial success, grossing over 800 million dollars in video sales and 400 million in merchandise in Japan alone. ... Nevertheless, Anno has referred to the plotline as a metaphor of his life» (Interview with Hideaki Anno, Aoianime.hu) * «When the very first meeting was held before the title had even been decided, Anno had already provided the theme of "a battle between gods and humans". ... The character design request from Anno was that "the lead character is a girl, and has an older-sister type figure like Coach Gunbuster next to her," so it was structurally similar to "Gunbuster". So I first designed an Asuka-type girl as the lead character, but after "Gunbuster" and "Nadia" I felt some resistance to making the lead character a girl again. I mean a robot should be piloted by a trained person, and if that person just happens to be a girl then that is fine, but I couldn't see why a young girl would pilot a robot... So I remember saying to Anno, "It's a robot story, so let's make the lead character a boy."» (Intervista a Sadamoto in Der Mond, ''a) * «One of the names proposed by Anno was "Alcion (Arushion)". But a robot story title that doesn't have a voiced consonant sound in it just isn't catching. So I pushed "Evangelion", which had been rejected once, as sounding stronger. We had talked a lot in the beginning about wanting a title like "Space Runaway Ideon (Legendary Giant God Ideon)", so I think I did push that» (ibidem) * «At that time the media venue also had not been decided yet, but I really wanted to do it as a TV series or movie instead of as an OVA. Sure, you can do higher quality with an OVA, but I felt that OVAs were a minor media compared to TV, so it was out of self-gratification I wanted to do it as a TV series. When you are in Tokyo and constantly reading the anime magazines, you succumb to the illusion that OVAs are a major media. But when you live in the provinces like me, the anime selection at the video rental shops isn't that great, so you think of it as a more minor world» (ibidem) La realizzazione * «Tra le serie televisive certamente la più interessante e innovativa fu la pseudorobotica Shinseiki Evangelion ('Il Vangelo del nuovo secolo'; Neon Genesis Evangelion), scritta e diretta da Hideaki Anno, realizzata dalla Gainax e coprodotta con Tv Tokyo e Nas. Questo anime geniale e drammatico si rivelà di importanza cruciale perché, da un lato, mostrò una seria presa di coscienza a proposito delle attuali problematiche relazionali ed esistenziali dei giovani giapponesi (rispetto alle quali Anno si era già mostrato sensibile in passato) e dall'altro perché di fatto nei suoi 26 episodi mise compiutamente a punto i canoni di una vera e propria rifondazione dell'anime non soltanto televisivo» (Tavassi, p. 247) * «''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995-1996). Original Title: Shinseiki Evangelion. Status: Animated Television Series (26 episodes). Chef Director: Hideaki Anno. .. Original Sotry: Anno. Screenplay: Anno, Akio Satsukawa, Mitsuo Iso, Shinji Huguchi, Yoji Enokido, Yoji Enoto. Producers: Noriko Kobayashi, Yutaka Sugiyama. Production Companies: Studio Gainax, Production I.G, Studio Ghibli (epi. 11)» (Anime Intersections, p. 188) [Berserkelion: Lo Studio Ghibli nell'ep. 11 si menziona anche nei Platinum Booklet, quindi la fonte è ok] * [Berserkelion: La fonte è il passo nel quale si cita il fatto, IIRC, che Anno suggerì di creare Rei con gli occhi rossi. Anno diede altre direttive a Sadamoto, vd. Der Mond. Anche se la fonte è "un plus", credo possa considerarsi lecita] (Anno Hideaki Sukidzo Evangerion, p. 165) * [Berserkelion: Come fonte si cita un'intervista in cui Yamashita sostiene che Anno diede specifiche direttive anche per il mecha design. In ogni caso, anche sul sito ufficiale della Gainax mi pare confermato (il mechanical design attribuito a "Yamashita Ikuto" e "Anno Hideaki"). Anche in questo caso credo possa considerarsi legittima] (The design concept is "Enormous Power Restained) Eredità culturale * «After all, Anno Hideaki's Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shin seiki Evangelion, 1995-1996) truly defined a new sense of what anime was and could be. Evangelion was (and remains) one of the most successful anime series» (Lunning, Mechademia, vol. 1, p. 133) * «Il più grande successo dello studio Gainax, la serie Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) di Hd. Anno, ha infatti condotto nello stesso Giappone una riconsiderazione del valore culturale degli anime televisivi''» (Colomo, p. 39)'' * «Azuma stated that the anime industry split in 1995—with the creation of Evangelion. After Evangelion, half the industry pursued more realistic animations and the other half went off to create works of complete fantasy» (Substantive Images) * «As Azuma discusses in chapter 1, the term "otaku" was already used to refer to the avid fans of anime and SF in the early 1980s, but it was with the boom of interest in the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shi seiki evangelion) in 1995-96, and the franchise is spawned, that otaku culture transcended the confines of cult-like fandom to become a mass social phenomenon» (Azuma, p. 117) * [Berserkelion: Prima era disponibile un'anteprima del libro su Google Books, ora purtroppo sembra sia scomparsa] (Boys' Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-cultural Fandom of, p. 260) * «Evangelion also created what has been called the "Third Generation Otaku," young adults who grew up reading Evangelion manga and watching the TV series, with successful novelist Tatsuhiko Takimoto including himself among their number» (Evangelion Special: From Phenomenon to legacy) * «The cosplay boom got started back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By the latter half of the 1990s, interest had spread worldwide, thanks to the popularity of the animated TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion, as fans in Japan and overseas took to dressing up like characters from the show» (The expanding cosplay universe, nippon.com) * «Eva's success turned the insult "otaku" — obsessed fans — into a buzzword» (15th Anniversary: The Cultural Legacy of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Wired.com) * «''Eva'' revolutionized anime culture, but it also had a larger economic impact on the market-place. Not only was there high demand for movie tickets, books and videos, but figures, trading cards and other goods sold in unprecedented numbers» (Newtype USA, dic. 2006, p. 31) * «The impact of this animation series, including a subsequent film version, seems to be of considerable magnitude when one looks into the future of Japanese popular culture» (Fujitani, p. 147) * «Sebbene Evangelion non abbia riscontrato un immediato successo ma è stato "scoperto" a posteriori, divenendo in poco tempo un vero e proprio cult, è innegabile quanto abbia influito nelle dinamiche dell'animazione seriale futura. Le serie televisive animate stavano vivendo un periodo difficile: i videogames si impongono come la nuova forma di intrattenimento casalingo, sostituendo appunto l'animazione televisiva. Complice la crisi economica, che ha imposto un regime di austerità nella gestione tecnico-produttiva di molti titoli, le serie animate giapponesi realizzate tra gli anni Ottanta e la prima metà degli anni Novanta non brillano certo per il loro carattere innovativo, che ricicla stancamente formule di messa in scena abusate negli anni» (Fontana, Donati, p. 132) * «Il caso di Neon Genesis Evangelion è tuttavia ancora più emblematico poiché si colloca in un periodo, la prima metà degli anni Novanta, che, al contrario, manifesta i primi sintomi di una crisi del cartone animato per il piccolo schermo che mancando di nuove ispirazione e perdendo pubblico a fronte dell'inarrestabile progredire tecnologico dei videogame casalinghi, esita a proporre qualcosa di veramente nuovo perpetuando formule e modelli ormai logori tipici dei decenni precedenti. ... Evangelion diventa in poco tempo un fenomeno, cattura l'attenzione delle riviste non solo specializzate e oltrepassa i confini del Giappone, inaugurando un nuovo felice periodo per l'anime in Tv (che continua tuttora) frutto di una maggiore libertà creativa di uno staff per così dire più "cinefilo"» (Fontana, Tarò, p. 105) * [Berserkelion: Fonte persa. Recuperai 'Tavassi' intero in libreria, ma ora non è più a mia disposizione..] (Tavassi, p. 278) * «Se Neon Genesis Evangelion è stato il titolo che ha dato inizio a quel Rinascimento animato che è la Nuova Animazione Seriale, possiamo affermare che Paranoia Agent ne è al tempo stesso l'apice e la pietra tombale» (Fontana, Donati, p. 141) * «...difatto Evangelion nei suoi 26 episodi mise compiutamente a punto i canoni di una vera e propria rifondazione dell'anime non soltanto televisivo» (Tavassi, p. 247) * «..in quest'opera è possibile riscontrare in forma esemplare tutte quelle innovazioni che avrebbero consentito la rinascita tecnica e artistica dell'anime televisivo, ossia una maggiore autorialità, la già sperimentata concentrazione delle risorse in un minor numero di episodi (13 o al massimo 26), un'impostazione registica ancor più vicina alla cinematografia dal vero, l'affrancamento da certi stilemi grafici tradizionali ormai logori, l'attenzione quasi maniacale ai dettagli tecnici, un drastico ridimensionamento del rapporto di dipendenza dai soggetti dei manga e, infine, una maggiore libertà dai vincoli del merchandising inteso come fonte d'ispirazione obbligata» (Tavassi, pp. 247-248) * ««Con la prepotente crescita del mercato dei videogiochi da casa, tra gli anni Ottanta e Novanta, si ha un'altra fase di stallo che porta i creativi dell'animazione nipponica a rispondere a tono con la serie Shin Seiki Evangerion (Neon Genesis Evangelion) di Hideaki Anno, che nel 1995 ha imposto con successo i canoni della cosiddetta "nuova animazione seriale" giapponese, ovvero una maggiore autorialità, un minor numero di episodi, una regia più vicina a quella cinematografica e una maggiore libertà dai soggetti dei manga e dal merchandising»» (Navone, De Donno, p. 233) * «Come si diceva, la NAS nasce grzie alla potenza propulsiva di Evangelion, la quale costringe tutti i nuovi anime robotici ad adeguarsi alla nuova tendenza: in questa maniera numerose serie hanno declinato il genere robotico-fantascentifico di derivazione nagaiana. È il caso di Yoshiyuki Yomino, padre di Gundam che dirige Brain Powerd ... o di Seiji Mizushima con Terrestrial Defense Corp. Dai-Guard» (Fontana, Dontai, p. 137) * «Lo shock mediatico di ''Evangelion non può che ripercuotersi anche dentro le fila della stessa industria che lo ha generato» * Merchandising * «In Japan, "Evangelion" is an enormous content and merchandise industry with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue» (Is 'Pacific Rim' a retelling of Japanese anime 'Evangelion'?, cnet.com) * «In Japan, “Evangelion,” which represents the present-day apex of the kaiju-mecha hybrid genre, is everywhere. Its characters are the face of the “Cool Japan” tourism promotion campaign of the nation’s largest airline, All Nippon Airways, decorating plane exteriors and posters and flyers and banners plastered everywhere the tourist eye can see. The Evangelion brand can be found stamped on everything from body spray to breath mints, to beer and bottled water» (America, Japan and the Giant Robots They Both Love, Blog.wsj.com) * «''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' even spun off a lot of merchandise aimed at an adult market, such as digital phones and even laptop computers with the logo of the story's major organization, Nerv, on them» (Poitras, p. 27) * «Multifarious ancillary merchandise was also released in the course of the Renewal Project. This included CDs, video games, cel-art illustrations and collectible models of all sorts (e.g., musical dools, soapdish and bootlecap figurines, wedding-cake statuettes and increadibly detailed Eva Units with legion articulated joints)» (Cavallaro 2009, p. 60) * « The video LD has totalled over 2.5 million in sets of 10 disks, the sound-track edition (album) has sold over one million in sets of three, the three-volume collected comics and the nine-volume film books have totalled 7.7 million copies, and 1.23 million poeple have gone to see the movie "Neon Genesis Evangelion Movie: Death and Rebirth" from when it was released in March» (Two Big Anime Movies this Summer!, acsys.com) * «In the year Death and Rebirth was released, estimated sales of Evangelion marchandise topped $ 300 million. 70 percent of this was from sales of video and laser disks (2.26 million copies), three soundtrack CDs (910.000 copies), three theme song single CDs (880.000 copies), four-disk set CD-ROM (200.000 copies) and the three-volume manga (3.5 million copies)» (Fujie, p. 142) * «The 30 minute special that was aired on 1997.03.08 gave information about how big a hit Evangelion was: 200,000 advance tickets for the movie were sold, 2,420,000 LDs and videos were sold, 880,000 CD singles were sold, 1,240,000 CDs were sold, (the 3rd soundtrack reached number 1 in the Oricon charts), 3,500,000 comics were sold» (Evangelion re-runs, usagi.org) * «The release in October 1995 of Neon Genesis Evangelion on Japanese TV ignited a boom in merchandise unprecedented in a country already awash with such goods. As if overnight, well over 600 different items were made to commemorate the event. Figures were the most popular, with the inimitable bandaged Rei outselling all else. The Eva girls, kitted out in swimwear and striking suggestive poses, were, overall, a huge success, and thing went a bit too far» (Fujie, p. 126) * «His Sadamoto's design for the character of Ayanami Rei, who first appears in Evangelion wrapped in bandages, became the sensation of the series, selling an unprecedented number of figurines and spurring extensive speculation about her character in the press and the world of anime criticism» (Lamarre, p. 205) * «Arguably, it is because of Anno's dictates on design that few Evangelion toys were initially made. But figures of Rei, in all her bandaged beauty, sold like wild fire. This is probably the first and only example of an animated series where reproductions of the human characters outsold those of the robots» (Fujie, p. 98) * «Rei's popularity soared in Japan, with books featuring her image on the cover selling like hot cakes. She was christened by the media, "the girl who manipulates magazine sales at will", "the fastest route to the sold-out sign!" and even, "the premium girl"» (Fujie, p. 39) * «I don't think it's necessary to restate what a tremendous sensation Evangelion caused when it started airing on TV. They called it a social phenomenon. It sold records numbers of laserdisc in Japan, and the DVD is still selling well today 2005?» (Takeda, p. 166) * «With Evangelion, Gainax began selling more games and software than we ever had since our founding, and other companies rode the same gravy train with their own Eva-related products and publications. Anything that had "Evangelion" in the name sold like hotcakes» (Takeda, p. 167) * «Well before the twenty-sixth and final episode aired, Neon Genesis Evangelion' had become a major phenomenon in Japan and a massive commercial success. The laserdisc sales set records, and over ten years later DVD sales are still strong (Takeda 2005, pp. 164-166)» (Macwilliams, p. 57) * «Insomma, Shinseiki Evangelion ebbe un impatto sull'economia nazionale calcolato in miliardi di yen, contribuendo inoltre in modo determinante alla diffusione del Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), il nuovo supporto ottico digitale che sostituì il mai decollato Laser Disc. E difatti la nuova politica commerciale inaugurata dalla Gainax - presto seguita su questa strada da tutti i produttori - vedeva nel passaggio televisivo non più il punto di arrivo degli anime seriali, ma solo una sorta di vetrina, il trampolino di lancio per la vendita dell'edizione home-video ... 22: Per rendersi conto delle dimensioni del fenomeno, si consideri che le uscite home-video di Shinseiki Evangelion superavano costantemente le 50.000 copie vendute, con punte che sfioravano le 75.000, ossia il doppio o il triplo degli anime più venduti di sempre fino ad allora» (Tavassi, p. 259) * «Da principio la serie, messa in onda la mattina preso o a tarda notte, venne sostanzialmente ignorata, ottenendo solo un breve trafiletto di presentazione sulla rivista Animage, e finanche la Bandai si mostrò riluttante a commercializzare i modellini dei fin troppo insoliti e inquietanti mecha, disegnati dallo stesso Hideaki Anno, con la collaborazione di Ikuto Yamashita» (Tavassi, p. 248) * «Il boom cominciò dalle riviste specializzate del settore, come Newtype della Kadokawa, che dedicarono pagine e pagine all'anime, e con la proliferazione di decine di volumi monografici sulla serie che iniziarono a comparire sugli scaffali delle librerie, per poi propagarsi al merchandising di giocattoli e modellini, con la Bandai che, dopo l'iniziale titubanza, si lanciò a gran ritmo nella produzione» (Tavassi, pp. 258-259) * 関連グッズは６０００種類に上り、総売り上げは１５００億円以上, «I relativi beni ammontano fino a 6,000 tipi, con vendite totali di oltre 150 miliardi di yen» (「ヱヴァ」総監督　劇場で“緊急声明”, Sponichi.co.jp Categoria: Fonti e materiale